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Saturday, February 23, 2013

Budgeting on a budget

Going off yesterday's post, I have decided to share a tool that has helped me craft a budget as well as keep track of all my expenses. I have used Mint for a few months now and I have to say that the overall experience has been great. It is a great one stop shop that for all my financial needs. It keeps tracks of all your accounts in one location which includes credit cards, investment, and also my favorite student loans.

One of the best functions of Mint is the ability to check your account for any fees and unauthorized spending and it will text you if anything is suspicious occurs. With this, I have been able to hone in on my spending and watch carefully what I am being charged on a daily basis. The only downfall is that privacy is an issue with this tool as it does need the accounts and passwords of all your financial information. This alone is the only if not significant problem with the tool.

I would personally advise that a person trying out Mint for the first time start out slowly. Maybe start by adding your student loans and/or credit cards until you get comfortable adding other accounts. There are always risks in having in your accounts in one place so do take caution. For me not knowing what is going on my accounts on a weekly basis is worth the extra risk.